History

The seventh generation of Pokémon was announced with the reveal of Pokémon Sun and Moon on February 27, 2016, the Pokémon 20th Anniversary. These games were released worldwide on November 18, 2016, except in Europe where they were released on November 23, 2016.

The second pair of games in this generation, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, were revealed in a Pokémon Direct held on June 6, 2017. The games take place in Alola once again, but with a new story and includes Pokémon that cannot be found in Sun and Moon. The games were released worldwide on November 17, 2017.

Some of the Generation VII games can communicate with games from previous generations. Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon can communicate with the application Pokémon Bank, via which Pokémon from the Generation VI games can be received. By way of Poké Transporter, Pokémon Bank can also receive Pokémon from the Generation V games and the Virtual Console releases of the Generation II and Generation I games, from which they can be moved to Generation VII games. Combined with other inter-generational transfer methods, this makes the seventh generation the first generation since Generation II able to communicate with all previous games.

A battle that takes part between four Trainers called a Battle Royal, where each participating Trainer aims to defeat each other. The battle ends when all of one Trainer's Pokémon are knocked out, with the winner being the Trainer who has the highest combined number of knockouts and number of remaining Pokémon.

The introduction of the Zygarde Cube, an item that allows the player to collect Zygarde Cells and Cores scattered across the region to assemble their own Zygarde.

The addition of the Festival Plaza, a hub accessible from the menu that allows the player to interact with other players locally or via the internet, as well as access various shops similarly to Join Avenue.

The addition of the Poké Pelago, an option accessible from the menu that allows the player to send Pokémon that are stored in a PCBox to various islands, allowing them to gather items, discover wild Pokémon, and even raise their levels and stats.

The player can now replace one of their party Pokémon with a newly caught Pokémon without having to use a PC.

Region

Alola

The Alola region was introduced in Pokémon Sun and Moon. This island region is made up of four main islands and one artificial island.

Starter Pokémon

The starters of the seventh generation follow the traditional Grass/Fire/Water trio setup. At the beginning of the game, the player must choose between the Grass and Flying-typeRowlet, the Fire-type Litten and the Water-type Popplio.

Trial Captains and Totem Pokémon

In Sun and Moon, there are seven Trial Captains and eight Totem Pokémon, Pokémon which are bigger than the rest of their species and have "auras" that increase one of their stats at the beginning of battle. Upon a Totem Pokémon's defeat, the player will get the corresponding Z-Crystal of the same type of the trial.

In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, all of the trials are altered in some way. In addition, the final Trial Captain, Mina has a trial for the player to complete.

Starter Pokémon

Unlike in other Pokémon games, the starter the player starts with in the upcoming games corresponds with the game they are playing. Players of Let's Go, Pikachu! will start with Pikachu, while players of Let's Go, Eevee! will start with Eevee.

Gym Leaders

For the most part, Kanto's Gym Leaders are the same as they were in Generation I, but Blue takes control of Viridian Gym after the player becomes Champion and can be challenged.